A method and a system for creating video programs are known, wherein images alternate and are shown in separate windows (window interface, picture in picture). In order to do this a participant of a video program is shot with a video camera, an image is formed with the aid of computer with according software and the formed image is displayed to the participant. The video image and the computer image are displayed to viewers sequentially or simultaneously in different windows of one screen, wherein the image in one of the windows does not obviously depend on what is in the other.
Also widely known is a method for creating video programs, in which a user-participant of a video program and an image generated by a computer are shot in the process of interaction of the user with the computer. Wherein, different variants of shooting the user are used, which differ by the selection of the angle of approach and the montage. When a shot is taken from the direction of the computer, the viewers may observe the emotions of the user-participant of the video program, the user's actions, but the computer screen and the reaction of computer programs objects to the user's actions are not seen. If the shooting is conducted with a show of the computer screen, viewers may additionally observe only the back of the user's head, and do not see his emotions, mimics, reactions and gestures. The most widely spread variant is shooting from the side when the screen is partially seen, the obtained image on the screen as a rule being of low quality, and whereby the user is seen in profile. In other variants of shooting, post-shooting montage is used, when several pictures shot at different angles of approach are combined on a divided screen. In the case of specialized television programs which are based on the interaction of a user with objects of a computer program (games, problems, tests, teaching), this method is not sufficiently effective. The described approaches do not ensure the display of the objects of the user, the program and the process of their interaction on one screen.
A system is known for creating video programs, comprising a video camera coupled to a unit for combining images, a computer with a unit for generating images, also coupled to the unit for combining images, which has an output for a video signal suitable for recording or broadcasting (see the magazine “Seti,” Jun. 1998, publisher “Otkrytye Sistemi,” pp. 52-56). The known system makes it possible to create video images in accordance with the methods described above. This system does not provide for the formation of an image showing the use interacting with objects of tile computer program with which the user interacts in the shooting process.
A method is known for creating video programs for remotely spaced one from another participants (video conference mode), wherein video cameras are used to form a video image of users of computers which are interconnected by means of a telecommunication network and use, as a rule, one and the same software or work with one application (see the magazine “LAN,” Jun. 1998, v. 4, publisher “Otkrytye Sistemi,” pp. 81-86). A video image of a participant of the video conference is sent through the network and is output in a separate window (frame in frame), superimposed on the main window in one of the corners. Such a method for remote interaction with the possibility of seeing and hearing a partner makes it possible to jointly solve different problems. A drawback of this method is the visual inconsistency of the user-partner's reaction displayed in the separate window with the image on the main screen and with changes of that image. The partner of the video conference here acts as an external adviser, and not as a co-participant of the actions which are occurring on the main screen. Wherein, if the changes take place dynamically and several objects are shown simultaneously, it is not possible to identify the partner's reaction to a change of separate objects displayed on the main screen.